Casting

Casting Time 1 minuteComponents V, S, M (see text)

Effect

Range 100 milesTarget up to 20 entities of 6 HD or fewer; see textDuration instantaneousSaving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

Description

You send out a magical message to any eldritch entities of a particular kind within a 100-mile radius, which can be delivered to up to 20 such creatures, starting with the nearest creatures until the limit has been met. This spell can’t contact creatures with more than 6 Hit Dice. You can’t send a specific message, but this spell (and all similar contact entity spells) can be characterized as an open invitation to make contact and establish communication. If there is an appropriate entity within range, the spell succeeds automatically. You don’t know whether the message was received, nor any specific details about what creatures received it or how many. Creatures that receive the message know the location and distance from where the spell was cast. Because this spell doesn’t call or summon the target, the target must have its own way to reach the place where the spell was cast.

How creatures respond to a contact spell is circumstantial and it is possible the creatures will simply ignore the spell. Creatures that come and investigate do so in their own time. They usually arrive cautiously, aware of the potential for ambush. Targets of the spell might inform their organization or community if they have one. There are no restrictions on how the creatures react to being contacted, and they might respond with hostility, parley, entertain an alliance, or subjugate the caster and their related community. Using this spell counts as mentally contacting the creature for the purpose of any of its special abilities (such as the star-spawn’s overwhelming mind). For the purpose of spells like scrying, the creature has firsthand knowledge of you and a connection similar to if it possessed a likeness of you.

Each type of creature requires a different material component that must be included when casting the spell, as shown on Table 4–1: Contact Entity on page 112. Some of these components are expensive or might require quests to acquire. Contacting certain types of creatures makes the spell chaotic, evil, or both, as indicated on the table.

Contact Entity I

Material Component

Cerebric fungusB3

Scholarly tome

Deep oneB5

Engraved stone tablet

GriothB5

An eye struck blind during an eclipse [evil]

NightgauntB4

Sculpture of an animal with the face filed smooth [chaotic]

RatlingB4

Spell scroll of 1st level or higher [chaotic, evil]

VoonithB3

Bundle of cattail plants [chaotic]

Contact Entity II

Material Component

Colour out of spaceB4

Shard of a meteorite

Denizen of LengB2

Painting of a memory from a dream worth 1,000 gp

Elder thingB4

Magic item or piece of technology worth 2,000 gp

Hound of TindalosB2

Exotic, trance-inducing elixir worth 500 gp

Leng ghoulB5

Skull of a dead scholar

Mi-goB4

Fresh brains of an intelligent creature [evil]

Neh-thalgguB2

Vial of cerebrospinal fluid from a creature that still lives [chaotic, evil]

Rhu-chalikB5

Brain of a creature that had 16 Int or higher [evil]

ShantakB2

A shard of rock harvested from another world [chaotic]

YangetheB5

Scroll of an emotionUM spell of 4th level or higher

Contact Entity III

Material Component

AatheriexaB5

A swatch of flesh recently damaged by magic [evil]

Deep one elderB5

Engraved stone tablet

Flying polypB4

Eerie music played upon a wind instrument carved from the bone of a living creature [chaotic, evil]

GugB2

Fresh flesh of a creature of 5 HD or more [chaotic, evil]

Leng spiderB2

Head of a denizen of Leng [evil]

Moon-beastB3

Intelligent humanoid sacrificed while dreaming [chaotic, evil]

Spawn of Yog-SothothB4

All blood drained from a sacrificed intelligent humanoid [chaotic, evil]

WendigoB2

Must devour the flesh of sentient creatures with 8 HD total [chaotic, evil]

YithianB3

Quartz geode

Contact Entity IV

Material Component

BholeB4

Jar of slime created by a bhole’s breath weapon

BodythiefB4

Chunks of brain from a lobotomy subject [evil]

Neothelid

Ruby worth 3,000 gp [chaotic, evil]

Shoggoth

Art object worth 3,000 gp recovered from the bottom of a sea [chaotic]

Casting

Casting Time 1 minuteComponents V, S, M (see text)

Effect

Range 200 milesTarget up to 20 entities of 18 HD or fewerDuration instantaneous

Description

This spell functions like contact entity II, except that you can contact creatures from the contact entity III list, and as noted above. Additionally, if a contacted creature has telepathy, it can send a telepathic message to you of up to 10 words.